Subject: Re: So, where's the "Javadoc" for COMMON Lisp? From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.net> Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 19:21:49 GMT Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp Message-ID: <3204559306178592@naggum.net> * Paolo Amoroso <amoroso@mclink.it> > What about a symbol property? That would also work, but in essence, the mapping from package plus symbol name and documentation type is nearly an ideal match for the way URLs may contain queries. This way, we can outboard the mapping and use it from other places, too, instead of making all that enormous amount of data hang around in the Lisp image. After all, part of the reason documentation strings are usually discarded from delivered images is that they take up a significant amount of space, although many would argue that this is not a valid reason in our time. Another issue is that some people may prefer to translate the specification to their favorite non-English language, which would either mean a lot of new properties and string values in the name of "localization" and "internationalization", or simply a language-sensitive server that returned the appropriate language version if available. Finally, the reason I want documentation for "stable" packages to be available in hypertext is that some people may need to go back to a tutorial if they are still confused or need examples and the like. If the WWW had actually _been_ hypertext <insert long and pained sigh>, it would have been possible for a user to add links between disjoint documents, but we need to figure out a way to do that outside of that immensely retarded _tragedy_ called HTML. #:Erik -- There is nothing in this message that under normal circumstances should cause Barry Margolin to announce his moral superiority over others, but one never knows how he needs to behave to maintain his belief in it.